SolarCity

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We lease the panels and they maintain everything. I found them by doing research. We pay a monthly amount and we also initially put $2,000 down. I like the panels and the work that was done but their communication leaves something to be desired.

They were great. I am really satisfied. Their service was good. It did take a little time, but it was because everything was being coordinated with the roofers. Once it was installed, it was great. When the system was turned on, I started seeing immediate results lowering my energy bill. The difference in my energy bill makes up the cost of the panels.

SolarCity's salespeople are eager to explain their products. They came to our home, with laptop and printer, and they left us with several pages of info that showed us costs and estimated savings using our electrical usage history (with AZ Public Service, APS). Once we decided to lease, they did all the rest--engineering plans, permits, installation, interface with APS and hookup, and on line monitoring of our system. Installation took only two days. They were good about responding to questions. We did have two minor problems - a mis-step in the attic caused a small ceiling crack, which they fixed right away. And somehow, one part of the panels was mis-wired, but we mentioned it to someone they sent by to check the system, and he had it fixed the next day. APS was the slowest party to the deal. Now, so far, so good. We like our panels. SolarCity is a larger solar outfit, not just in Prescott, and we liked that.

I called them on the phone and gave them information about what I wanted and gave them the data they needed to produce a bid. They arranged a telephone call with the planner who had downloaded maps and had information about a system. The call lasted for about an hour with a presentation over the internet. They followed up with phone calls to see how their bid was doing.

TL;DR: Now that it is done, everything is fine but getting there kinda sucked. I chose SC because of two reasons: they were the cheapest AND I am an ex-PayPal employee. This is Elon Musk's company, so I figured I should support it. My sales person was Mike Odynsky. Mike explained everything to me about the three plans Solar City offers: Purchase, Lease and Payment plan. I started with a 20 panel system but ended up getting a 27 panel system due to adding a spa and heated floors in my bathrooms. I chose the Solar Lease which basically means you are pre-paying your power for the next twenty years. I felt this best suited my needs because I didn't want to deal with the rebates, it is less out of pocket, solar city maintains the system and there is a stipulation in the agreement that states that solar city reserves the right to leave the panels on your roof rather than do a decommission after 20 years. The company has only been around since 2006 so nobody's lease agreement is up. It sounded like a good gamble to me. It took around 6 months to get the death star fully operational. The design of the panels was pretty straight forward: they came, checked out the roof, and designed a system around the lighting. Permit pulling was all done by solar city... The install was bumpy. The technicians made a mistake on the layout and they had to repair the holes they drilled and fix the layout. They were honest about it and the install took 4 days. I fired up the deathstar after the city inspection and it was producing ~500W of energy. Didn't sound right for a 5kW system. I told my sales person and they told me I shouldn't have turned on the panels until pgand e swapped out my meter. I went on top of my roof and drew a diagram of my panels, numbering them 0-26 and covered them with blankets. I had my wife read the output on the inverter to see which tiles were actually producing power. After the meter swap I sent an email with the diagram, telling them that only 12 panels seemed to actually produce power. A tech came out and told me that there was an array not hooked up, a broken fuse and a mis-configuration in the inverter... I was close - only 9 of the panels were producing power. So now everything is good. I got my first power bill for $20.65 and my second one for -$30.36 the previous bill was ~$50 higher due to the outage. ---------------------- home energy efficiency Solar City gives you a home energy efficiency evaluation free with a lease program; if you are purchasing, it costs $99. The evaluation has very little to do with solar panels and energy costs. Take it if it is free, but the only item on the resulting list that had anything to do with my electricity bill had something to do with light bulbs :/ I had previously priced out a new furnace with Silicon Valley Heating, since they installed my A/C - the most efficient furnace on the market today is Lennox SLV98 which has a 98% efficiency rating (whatever that means). The estimate was 5,500 after rebates and it would take 1 day to install. Solar City gave me an estimate for a furnace that was $900 cheaper and 96% efficient. I asked if they could accommodate me with the Lennox furnace and they did. To get the maximum amount of rebates from PGand E your house would have to pass some tests, which requires additional work such as floor insulation, duct repairs, sealing the crawlspace, etc. We agreed on $9000 for everything with an estimated $2000 in rebates from PGand E. So for an extra $1,500.00 on top of the furnace they would do all the proposed work. It sounded financially sound, so I agreed to it. Things that went right: Floor insulation: They had some other company install it, they were fast and no b*******. Gooood Temperature retention: I definitely notice that my house holds it's temperature better. Rebate: Painless AND it ended up being $2,500.00 instead of $2,000.00 Things that went wrong: Furnace: they demo'd my furnace and then the guy who did the work disappeared till Thursday. During that time there was a heat spell and I couldn't use my AC -.- Duct Repair: None of the inspections (from solar city or when I bought the house in 2010!) caught that I was missing a return duct. I was told it would be a big hack, where the wall space ITSELF would be the return. Ricardo from solar city caught it and offered a repair estimate. However to do the job right (install a duct properly) was estimated $700 cheaper by Feraru (who was doing work on my bathroom at the time). Duration: The job was supposed to take 4 days, but it took about 2 weeks of labor and 8 weeks of calls and emails. In the end I think they did a reasonably good job, but the process made them look like a bunch of clowns. You won't be able to beat their price but you will pay for it in other ways. I would have given them a overall 'B' if either the solar panels or the efficiency was smooth installation.

It pretty much takes care of my electric bill which can get high in the summer. The customer service was very good. The technicians were professional, thoughtful and called before they came. There were no surprises as they let me know of any changes along the way. Everything went well.

They took care of EVERYTHING from measuring, permits, and hookups. They kept up informed every step of the way, getting the installation done late winter and having it turned on early spring. Our solar panels collect the energy and send it back to BGand E, and then we buy what we don't produce back at a reduced rate. It is great to see the electric meter turn backwards! We have only had it for a couple of months, but we are saving over 2/3 of our electric bill each month so far. We figured we would get our investment back in about 6 years, but the way it has been going...I think we will have our investment dollars back way before that. I would highly recommend this company. I am more than pleased. Have them come out and give you an estimate and see if your house is located in a position that it would benefit you (our roof faces south). They are experienced and wonderful to work with.

They did a wonderful job. They were efficient and punctual. They cleaned up after themselves and were very professional. They made sure the work was up to my standard before leaving. They kept me informed of all the work before they did it. It was worth the experience! They permit you to lease the pannels rather than paying for them in full upfront. By leasing they still will be responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the pannels for 20 years.

1) The sales rep was competent and professional and worked hard to explain to us the engineering and financial alternatives and costs. I would have liked an interactive web tool to test different energy and payment alternatives to see the impact on our energy costs before making a final decision. I now have found one, but wish Solar City had one of their own.2) The engineering design team came when scheduled and did a professional job. They found that I could have more panels on my roof than originally thought and promised a proposal based on increased panels. That proposal did not come and the installation crew arrived without knowledge of it.3) The installation crew came on time, worked efficiently and professionally and finished ahead of schedule. We like the way all parts of the installation were done and it's look. They have not been turned on so can't say how they actually work, but he tests seem to indicate all is working well.4) The scheduling of municipal inspection and PGand E inspection were delayed by Solar City's financial processes which was annoying and at their request, we have made recommendations on how they could improve it. There is no reason why a well designed and implemented system can't be inspected within two weeks of final installation. It will take us 6-10 weeks from installation to "turn-on".

They were willing to work with me. I had very specific requirements of how I wanted it installed, and they were happy to work with me. I thought they dragged the project out a little too long. They could've done it in a more timely fashion. Most of their work was outside, so I'm not sure how punctual they were.

They came to the house and looked at how efficient the house was. They looked at the number of windows, the insulation, the heating and cooling system, the pool pump and all that stuff to see how efficient they were. They were very personable. I actually had to go out when they were there and I trusted them in my house. They were really nice and really professional. Their main guy was training so I think it took them a little bit longer than normal but they were all very courteous and very nice. They have been great so far. I think it cost me $300 but I got 10% off. I don't know how to rate them on price because I didn't do a lot of research on other companies to see how much it costs at other places. I actually have a friend who works there so that is why I went with that company. I didn't shop around. The quality of their work has been good so far. I would use them again in the future.

Solar City was outstanding to deal with, from the very first visit with the Salesman, to the final turn up and test. Solar City's pricing is very competative. I purchased a 4.3 Kw system consisting of 20 panels. Their Salesman answered each and every question that I had. I had obtained competitive pricing from two other Solar Companies. I liked the price and proposal from Solar City for a complete purchase price. Solar City does a great job communicating with the customer. Each and every step is communicated well in advance. The installation was done very promptly and professionally. I really liked the Solar City crew and their approach to my project. The only down side, and this is no reflection on Solar City, but the City of San Jose building department and PGand E take so long to come out and do their part that a project that Solar City could get done in mere days drags on for many weeks because of the slowness of the building department and PGand E. Solar City was really great! I would recommend them to anyone doing a solar project.

The Solar panel process started for us in Dec of 2010. The Panels did not get installed until June. The company leaves out one very important part about their system. IT IS DESIGNED TO STOP WORKING DURING A BLACKOUT. I told the company I wanted solar panels in case of rolling brownouts or a full on blackout. Nobody from the company bothered to tell me that, by law, solar panels must shut off if it is an and quot;on gridand quot; system during a blackout. I asked if there was any way to access the power during a blackout - the sun was still out during the last one and I got no response. If you are concerned about this, make sure your system is an and quot;off gridand quot; system. These do not qualify for the tax write offs, however.

I first heard of Solar City from an article in our newspaper, The Oregonian. Solar City also is setup in our local Home Depot. My brother took the plunge first and as soon as his panels were up and running and he gave me the thumbs up, we took the plunge too. We called the local sales rep, Omri. Omri set up an appointment and came to our house within a day. He looked around the house, poked his head in the attic, and did some calculations, then provided us a preliminary proposal on the spot. The numbers were amazing - with the State of Oregon tax credits, this thing was a no brainer - so we signed the contract. Omri was professional, polite, friendly, and knowledgeable, and I never once felt pressured to move forward. It really felt like he was partnering with us to ensure this was the right thing for us. We were told to expect the whole process start to finish to take up to 3 months. But less than a month later, the engineering team paid a visit, doing a very detailed analysis of our roof: the direction it faced, the slope, the condition, the load-bearing capabilities, etc., and they checked the house's electrical system. We were told again to expect to wait up to a couple of weeks for the final engineering report and designs, but just a couple of days later we had them via email. We looked them over, confirmed it was almost exactly what Omri's initial proposal indicated, and we confirmed to move forward. Again, we were told permitting could take some time, which was the usual cause for delay in the final installation step. However, I was pleasantly surprised when less than a month later it was time to install the panels. The install team came out, introduced themselves, explained everything they were going to do, then proceeded to do exactly what they said. They took plenty of time to answer my questions (I must have been a bit annoying with all my questions, but my engineer's brain just couldn't resist). They asked me where I wanted the inverter, where I wanted the the conduit run, etc. - very considerate compared with many contractors (I am thinking of cable guys and phone guys who just seem to always do whatever is easiest). Due to the many rebates, tax credits, and building permits, there have been at least three different inspections done so far and every inspector said everything looked first rate. We have been VERY pleased with the process every step of the way. I would use them again in a heartbeat, and have already recommended them to AT LEAST 15 of my friends and family.

They did a fantastic job. They had excellent response and turn around time! I am very satisfied with the experience.

We found them when our city did a group purchase of solar power arrays through SolarCity which gave residences a discounted price on solar installation. Rather than just taking their words and quote, I interviewed 4 other solar installation companies. SolarCity was the most competitively priced and was very knowledgeable of what they were going to do. They also have monitoring system to allow you to track how much AC your system is producing each day/month/year. It only took them 1 day to installed the panels. The workers were courteous, professional, and helpful. My only complaint would be that their customer care group could be more responsive once the monitoring system is installed. They do get back to you, but you have to try a couple of times. Other than that, they're great.